


I've Been Re-Watching Diamond And Pearl And Ikarishipping Has Consumed My Life

by Briana_Dubs



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Conway is mentioned, F/M, I added more, IT'S NOT MY FAULT, IkariShipping, Meh, SO, and i don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but he's only mentioned in passing, don't look at me, i was inspired by a gladionxmoon fic i read, i'll probably do a third chapter, it's not the main pairing, may/drew - Freeform, my computer apparently hates the word Piplup, paulxdawn, so it's in these tags, though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-23 15:49:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9664145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briana_Dubs/pseuds/Briana_Dubs
Summary: This is inspired by a Gladion x Moon fic I read a little while ago. It's the "You broke into my house but my pet kinda likes you, so I won't call the cops" AU. In which everyone is older and can legally drink, but good decisions are not always made.Dawn was supposed to call the cops, but Piplup kept poking him, so he couldn't really be all that bad right?Alternatively titled"Paul Makes Friends"Also, I used Rebolledo as Paul and Reggie's last name because everyone else uses it.... so... yeah...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> don't look at me

I’ve Been Re-Watching Diamond and Pearl and Ikarishipping has Consumed My Life

 

                Dawn had been sharing the apartment with her friend May for over a year now. A whole year was plenty of time to get used to May’s late nights out partying and the nights she spent at her boyfriend’s place. Usually when she was by herself she would just have Piplup and her other Pokémon hanging out with her.

                Right now it was just her and Piplup. They had just finished dinner and Piplup was already snacking on a poffin Dawn offered him for dessert.

                Smiling down at her blue penguin Pokémon, Dawn said, “You’re such a little Tepig. Couldn’t you wait until we sat back down?” Piplup made an indignant noise and marched off toward the living room with the poffin sticking out of his beak.

                As she stuck the last few dishes into the drying rack by the sink, Dawn heard the sound of the front door clicking. She looked at the clock. A little after midnight. Not the latest May had come home after a night of dancing with Drew.

                “How was your night?” she asked, walking out to the living room. The smile on her face dropped fast when she saw it wasn’t May standing in the doorway. Instead it was a boy with purple hair that Dawn had never seen before in her life. “Uhh….” She looked at Piplup nervously. The penguin was just holding its poffin looking up at the intruder.

                “Um, can I help you?” Dawn finally asked, hand sliding over to where her other pokeballs were resting by the TV. The boy looked up at her and scrunched up his face.

                “Who are you?” he asked, voice a little raspy.

                Dawn held the pokeball containing her Mamoswine. “I’m Da-“

                “One of Reggie’s friends?” the boy grumbled, dragging his feet across the floor. Dawn stepped back a few feet, expecting to be attacked. Piplup just watched as the purple haired male all but dropped himself onto the couch. “Whatever,” he said, “Jus’ let ‘im know I’m home…”

                “Home?” Dawn parroted, “What are you talking about? This is my apartment!”

                “Stop shouting,” the boy groaned, taking a pillow and pulling it over his head. It clicked in Dawn’s head- whoever this guy was, he was drunk.

                She looked at Piplup, who had waddled over next to their guest. Piplup usually was a good judge of character. If he didn’t like this guy, she was calling the police. Drunk or not.

                Piplup poked at his side a few times, looking curious. The boy turned his head to look at the small penguin. Piplup proceeded to poke his face. He waved his hand at the little thing. “Fuck off, stupid bird.”

                And Piplup climbed up onto the couch and plopped himself right down onto the stranger’s back and continued nibbling on his poffin.

                Okay, so Piplup didn’t seem to mind this guy. Even though he was pretty rude. Slowly Dawn set Mamoswine’s ball back down and approached him.

                “Hey, um,” she started and jumped back when he lifted up his head to scowl at her.

                “Do you ever stop talking?” he asked, “What do you want?”

                Dawn looked at him for a moment. Even just lying there she could see his head swaying. She smiled nervously at him. “Where’s your phone?”

                He plopped his head back onto the pillow, closing his eyes and groaning. “Why do you wan’ it…?”

                “Um, to uh… call Reggie and let him know you got back safe,” she lied. He grumbled unhappily and reached one of his arms under himself before pulling out a boring black phone. “Thank you!” Dawn took it from his hand in one swift motion, seeing as he was almost about to drop it.

                His face was pressed into the couch pillow, but Dawn sill heard him say, “Password’s Torterra…”

                She looked at Piplup, who had finished his poffin and was now looking at her. “Lup?”

                Standing up, Dawn walked back to the kitchen and entered the password. She grumbled when it first told her it was wrong. She tried capitalizing the T and the screen changed to its home page. The background picture was one of those generic ones that came with your phone. Didn’t tell her much about this guy. She peeked back out at the living room and saw Piplup poking at the back of the stranger’s head.

                “You stop that mister or you won’t be getting any more treats tonight!” She pointed accusingly at her little penguin.

                Piplup huffed. “Pip-pip!” He then made a face at her.

                Dawn pouted. “I’ll remember that when I’m making breakfast.”

                Turning back to the phone, Dawn hit the button for contacts. There were only seven names. At least “Reggie” was one of them. She hit call and walked back around the edge of the wall to keep an eye on Piplup and what’s his name.

                They answered the phone almost immediately. _“Paul, what the hell, do you have any idea what time it is!? Maylene and I were so worried! Where are you?”_

                Dawn swallowed. “Uh, hi,” she said, voice obviously nervous.

                _“Who is this…?”_ the voice on the other end of the line asked, _“How did you get Paul’s phone?”_

                “Uh, my name’s Dawn,” she said, looking out at the couch, “And uh… Paul kinda broke into my apartment.”

                There was a pause after she said that. _“He did what!?”_ whoever this Reggie was sounded worried, _“I am_ so _sorry! Where are you? I’ll come get him right away!”_ He kept repeating how sorry he was over and over again. Dawn laughed nervously. _“I’m so sorry! He usually doesn’t cause trouble like this! Is he okay? Why did he break in? He didn’t hurt you did he?”_

“Huh? Oh, no he didn’t hurt me. I’m pretty sure he’s completely plastered,” she said walking toward the couch to give Piplup a look. He had started poking the back of the guy’s head again, the little monster he was. Paul. Reggie said his name was Paul. “And as far as causing trouble, he’s fine. The one causing trouble would be my Piplup. You stop that right now, mister!” She gave Piplup a little pat on the head as a warning, “Or you’re going right back in your Pokeball!”

                Piplup made a “ppbbt” noise at her and folded his little flippers across his chest.

                Dawn walked back toward the kitchen. “You don’t have to come get him right now, it’s okay,” she said. “To be honest he seems kinda grouchy. I don’t really wanna wake him up.”

                She heard Reggie laugh on the other end of the line. _“Trust me, he’s always grouchy. Are you sure? I feel awful about all this…”_

Dawn nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “No need to worry! I’ll keep an eye on him! You can probably come tomorrow morning! My roommate should be back by then!” Reggie agreed on a time of 9am. Dawn hung up, set the phone on the counter, and walked back out to the couch. Paul was still laying with his face completely squished into the pillow.

                “All right, now I remember May telling me about this… She said…” Dawn squatted down next to the couch, “You’re supposed to turn them onto their side to make sure they don’t choke if they throw up…” She lifted little Piplup off his back and set him on the floor. “Here goes,” she said. She tried pushing the shoulder closest to her but she didn’t manage much. She huffed and let go. May did say people felt heavier when they were wasted. She stood up and grabbed one of her Pokeballs off the TV stand.

                Her Ambipom popped out and cooed up at her. She squatted down to his level. “I need you to help me real quick. Can you help me lift this guy here so he’s lying on his side?” Ambipom gave her a salute and a big smile and easily lifted the unconscious boy. “Thanks Ambipom,” Dawn said before recalling him into his Pokeball. He deserved a few extra treats in the morning.

                She moved over to the couch and grumbled to herself. His hair was completely in his face. “Maybe I shoulda just told Reggie to come get ‘im… More trouble than he’s worth…”

                “Pip?” Piplup waddled over and looked up at her, tilting his head.

                “No, I’m just being lazy, Piplup,” she answered, “I’m not gonna call Reggie back. It’s too early in the morning for that.” So she cautiously brushed his hair out of his face. She still didn’t want him to wake up. She stood up once she was done, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. “I don’t know what May’s talking about, Piplup! I can totally handle things by myself! No need to worry!” Piplup agreed with a happy coo.

                Dawn looked down at Paul. He looked really peaceful. “Oh!” she quickly scurried over to one of the closets and pulled out a big blue blanket. She and May usually were too cheap to put the heating on in their little space, so they had a wide assortment of blankets and slippers. She came back and frowned when she saw Piplup was poking Paul’s face again.

                Draping the blanket over the sleeping male, Dawn bent and plucked Piplup off the ground. “What is your problem tonight?”

                “Piplup!”

                Dawn sighed. “That doesn’t really answer my question.” She looked back at her sleeping houseguest. “I wonder how long he’ll be asleep… When should I set my alarm for?”

                “Pip?” the little penguin looked up at her from her arms.

                “I’ll set it for like 7. Better safe than sorry, right Piplup?” Her water type agreed and the two of them turned and walked off to Dawn’s bedroom at the end of the hall. She set Piplup on her bed, adjusted the timer on her alarm clock, and crawled under the covers.

\--~--

                When Paul woke up, the very first thing he became aware of was how badly his head hurt. He groaned and reached up to rub at his forehead. When he opened his eyes, the second thing he became aware of was the fact that this was _not_ his house. He pushed himself to sit up, only half noticing the blanket on him. He was definitely confused. He didn’t remember leaving with anyone. Had he really let the Four convince him to get _that_ wasted?

                He was going to stand up and try to figure out where he was, but he heard the sound of a yawn and that stopped him.

\--~--

                Dawn stretched as she came out of her room, Piplup following behind her. She opened her eyes and stopped, seeing that her guest was awake and staring at her.

                “Oh,” she felt nervous almost immediately. He hadn’t even said anything, he just had a really intimidating look to his face. “You’re up.”

                “Who’re you?” was all he asked in reply.

                Piplup waddled out into the living room to inspect him. “Um, I’m Dawn,” she answered, taking careful steps closer, “You, uh… kinda broke into my apartment last night.”

                Paul blinked and looked at the space around him. “And you didn’t call the police because…?”

                Dawn smiled. She had a feeling he would ask that at some point. Piplup had walked back over to her and she bent to pick him up. “Well, Piplup seemed to like you, so I figured you couldn’t be all bad.”

                The look on Paul’s face didn’t change, but when he turned his head back to her, he asked, “You left your life in the hands of your stupid bird?”

                Dawn immediately stomped forward, cheeks pink with indignation. “Piplup’s not stupid!” Piplup chirped an agreement. “He’s an excellent judge of character!” Paul didn’t look like he believed her. “You should be grateful! If Piplup didn’t like you, then your friend Reggie would be picking you up from jail!”

                “You called Reggie?” Paul asked, hand quickly going to his jacket pocket where he normally kept his phone. It was empty. “You called my brother _and_ you stole my phone?”

                “No!” Dawn huffed, “You gave me your phone last night when I asked if I could use it to call him!”

                Paul’s already stern face only grew harder when he frowned. “I don’t remember that.”

                “Yeah, well of the two of us, which one was too drunk to realize he was in the wrong house, huh?” Dawn puffed her cheeks and scowled at him. Paul made a noise by clicking his tongue and looked away from her with a scowl. And here Dawn thought he couldn’t look any angrier. Reggie was definitely right, Paul was always grouchy.

                As she stood there fuming at him, Dawn suddenly seemed to remember something. She set Piplup on the floor and hurried back down the hallway she came in from. “One sec!”

                Piplup waddled over to where Paul was sitting and stared up at him. When Paul turned his head to stare back, Piplup didn’t budge. The water penguin only squinted his eyes and continued the staring contest.

                It ended when Dawn came back out with a little plastic bottle in her hand. “Here,” she said, holding it out to Paul, “You probably have a headache, right?” he took the bottle without a word. Dawn huffed, but asked anyway, “Do you want a drink to take that with?”

                He looked up at her for a second before looking back down and dumping a few pain pills into his hand. “Sure,” was all he said.

                Dawn went over to the fridge and hummed. “What do you want?” she called, “We have orange juice if you’d like that!”

                The response she got was an annoyed sounding, “Whatever.”

                Again, she huffed. She poured a glass for him and brought it out with a pout on her face. Her pout only got more exaggerated when she saw Piplup sitting on the couch next to Paul.

                “You little traitor,” she grumbled, handing the glass to her guest, “You’re definitely not getting any poffins until after lunch.” Piplup threw a little bit of a fit about that.

                Paul made a face at her Pokémon and quickly downed the pills. Dawn plopped herself down into the armchair to his right and had a bit of a glaring contest with Piplup. After that it was silent in the room. Eventually Dawn looked at Paul instead of her starter.

                He noticed her staring and scowled at her. “What?” he snapped.

                Dawn rolled her eyes. "Oh, don’t get all melodramatic,” she said, “I was just thinking... geeze…” She had her arms crossed in front of her chest. “If you want to take a shower, you can,” she said, “It’s the first room on your left there. Just don’t use the purple towels. Those are Drew’s…”

                She was a little surprised to hear him almost laugh at that. “And who’s that? Your boyfriend?” he teased, a mean looking smile on his face.

                Dawn only pulled her arms harder into their crossed position. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. Drew’s my roommate’s boyfriend.”

                Paul scoffed, but stood up from the couch. “What should I do with this?” he asked, holding the now empty glass.

                “Oh, I’ll take it,” Dawn said, hopping up. Paul started walking down the hall. “Remember, not the purple ones! Any of the other towels are fair game!” She called after him. He didn’t respond and Dawn groaned when the bathroom door clicked shut.

                She turned her head to look at Piplup and laughed when she saw he had completely bundled himself up in the blanket Paul had been using. “So that’s what you wanted, huh?” she teased, “I knew you wouldn’t betray me like that!” Piplup looked very proud of himself.

                Once she was in the kitchen Dawn decided she might as well start making some breakfast. She felt like making bacon or sausage was a safe bet. Most people she had met liked that. “What else should I make, Piplup?”

                “Piplup!”

                “Great idea!”

\--~--

                Dawn had just finished setting plates out when she heard the shower shut off. She looked up with a little smile, but immediately frowned when she saw Paul step into view.

                There, around his neck, was a very wet and very purple towel.

                “I told you not the purple ones!" she whined.

                He shrugged. “I forgot.”

                “Liar,” she grumbled, looking at the purple fabric, “Drew’s gonna blame me about this for the rest of the week, I hope you realize!” Paul lifted the towel up and ruffled his hair with it. Dawn took the chance to look at him. He was wearing a plain grey t-shirt and the pants from yesterday. “Where’s your jacket?” she asked.

                “Hm?” Paul paused in his hair drying. He looked down at himself. “Oh, yeah,” and he walked back to the bathroom.

                Dawn found herself laughing at that. “Dummy,” she said to herself, pushing some fruit onto the plate she had set for herself. She heard shuffling, and when she turned and looked she laughed again. In came Piplup, dragging the massive blue blanket in with him like some sort of giant cape. “You look like a handsome little prince!” She bent down and petted the top of his head.

                Piplup beamed at her before hopping up into the chair Dawn had made special for him so he could sit at the table with them.

                When Paul came back out he looked at the little penguin for a moment, but didn’t say anything.

                “Want some breakfast?” Dawn offered.

                “When’s Reggie supposed to be getting here?”

                Piplup swiped a berry from Dawn’s plate. “I saw that, mister,” she said, “Reggie said he’d get here around nine.”

                Paul stood where he was for a moment before turning and sitting at the table. At this point Dawn wasn’t surprised he didn’t actually say anything.

                She served them their food, made a plate for Piplup, and sat down. “Not much of a talker, are ya?” He only glanced up at her, just proving Dawn’s point. She was halfway through her food when she remembered she needed to feed her other Pokémon and let them out to stretch their legs. Well, except Mamoswine. He would have to wait until she was out in the communal green-space.

                Dawn let Ambipom, Pachirisu, Buneary, Togekiss, and Quilava out and quickly made them some plates of food.

                “Do you want to feed any of your Pokémon?" she asked, looking at Paul.

                He glanced over at her. “Most of mine are too big to be out in here,” he replied.

                “Fair enough,” she said, going back to the table, “I usually have to go outside to feed my Mamoswine.” Paul didn’t reply.

                Dawn heard the sound of the front door turning and paused in her eating.

                May stepped inside and essentially threw her jacket and bag into the house. “I’m back Dawn!” she called out in a sing-song voice. Her brown hair was tied back with her favorite red bandana but it wasn’t all that neat.

                Dawn saw Paul flinch at May’s voice. “Hey, May!” she called back.

                May had started to take off her shoes and stopped when she noticed the head of purple hair at the table. “Oh, hey, I didn’t know you had a friend over! You shoulda told me! I would’ve brought Drew in to say hi!”

                “I’m not her friend,” Paul snapped, turning to glower at May.

                May looked startled. Dawn laughed nervously. “Ahh, yeah, um, about that…” She motioned her hands toward the boy sitting opposite her, “May, this is Paul. He kind of broke in last night.”

                If Paul flinched before, he completely crumpled in on himself when May shrieked out a horrified “ _What_??!!” May rushed over to Dawn’s side. “What do you mean he broke in!? And you’re sitting here eating breakfast with him like it’s no big deal!?!” Dawn tried to say something in response, but May kept on going, “Dawn, you could’ve gotten hurt! You don’t know this guy! We’ve talked about this! If someone comes after you, you’re supposed to use Mamoswine no matter what!”

                “May!” Dawn finally got her to stop. “I’m fine, no need to worry.” She looked over at Paul, who looked less than thrilled to be there right now, “Paul didn’t ‘ _come after me_ ’ or anything like that. And I was going to use Mamoswine and call the cops, but Piplup liked him, so I figured he couldn’t be all that bad.”

                May looked at the bird Pokémon. Piplup patted his chest with one of his little flippers proudly. “Pip piplup!”

                May looked at Paul. “What were you looking to steal?” she asked it so accusingly Dawn couldn’t help the snort she let out before laughing a little bit.

                “I wasn’t here to steal anything,” Paul growled, “I had a few too many drinks with the Elite Four and didn’t realize where I was.”

                Both Dawn and May were staring at him. Dawn’s laughter had completely stopped. May was the one to speak.

                “...Wait… are you Paul Rebolledo? The guy who beat Cynthia a few months ago?”

                “Yeah, so?”

                May jumped forward, hands slamming down onto the table, startling both trainers and all of Dawn’s Pokémon. “Hold on, are you seriously telling me that you’re the freaking Sinnoh League Champion!?” She was yelling, and Dawn cold see Paul flinching at every word.

                “May,” she said, drawing her friend’s attention. Dawn put one finger to her lips and motioned with her other hand in a downward motion.

                Her friend quickly got the hint. She asked in a much quieter voice, “Are you seriously the kid that just beat Cynthia after she had been Champion for seven years?”

                Paul was scowling at her. “Yes, now can you shut up?”

                May jumped forward again, this time rage in her expression, but Dawn hopped up and grabbed her, holding her back. May was shouting all sorts of expletives at Paul, but he didn’t seem to really care.

                Once Dawn finally let her go, May snapped, “I don’t believe you. If you’re the Champ, prove it.”

                The look Paul shot May made Dawn grab Piplup out of fear. He looked ready to kill.

                She tried to step forward, waving one hand, and said, “E-easy, now. Let’s just all calm down. We don’t need to start a fight, okay?”

                “No, your friend wants me to prove it?” Paul said, standing up, revealing just how much taller he was than they were, “What proof do you want?”

                May didn’t back down, she still scowled at him. “I want to see the Torterra you used to wipe out her Garchomp.”

                Dawn blinked. “So that’s why Torterra was your password!” Paul turned his head toward her. Dawn shivered under the intense stare he sent her way. Quickly she hopped over to the counter and handed him back his phone with a nervous chuckle.

                Paul didn’t say a word as he tucked his phone away and pulled out a Pokeball. When Dawn realized he was going to open it right there, she jumped forward, but was too late. Out popped a massive Torterra that knocked both her and May back three feet, knocked the table over, and sent an end table with a glass top shattering on the carpet.

                Both Dawn and May sat where they fell looking shocked, but Piplup wriggled out of Dawn’s grip and waddled up to the much bigger grass type. He greeted it happily and even patted its nose with its flipper.

                Dawn looked at her starter as her other Pokémon rushed over to see if their trainer was hurt.

                Paul stood there glowering at them for a solid minute before he looked at the damage he had caused. With a groan, he recalled Torterra and lifted the table back up. “Sorry about that,” he said.

                May looked at Dawn, still wide eyed and breathing heavily.

                Paul looked at the completely broken end table and all the glass all over the floor. “I can pay for that if you want…”

                Dawn finally pushed herself up and then helped May to her feet. “I’d appreciate that,” she said, “That one was mine.” She pouted, looking at her ruined table. “I had really liked that one too.”

                “Dawn, you spent three days trying to decide between two and you ended up buying both of them,” May said as she went to grab the broom and dust pan. Dawn stuck her tongue out at her roommate before going to get the vacuum. May marched over to Paul and shoved the broom and dustpan out toward hm. He raised an eyebrow down at her. “Since you caused this, you can help clean it up!”

                After Paul took the broom, the vacuum was quickly shoved into May’s chest. Dawn had her hands on her hips and was huffing angrily at her. “Yeah? Well, since you’re the one who antagonized him in the first place, you can help too!”

                May groaned loudly. “But I hate cleaning!”

                “I told you to drop it,” Dawn said, walking around the table to start picking up larger pieces of the broken plates and the silverware, “But _noooooo_ , nobody listens to Dawn!” Paul helped clean without any argument, but May whined and complained the whole time she vacuumed up the pieces of broken glass. “You’re not even doing that much work!” Dawn shouted at her.

                Piplup and Dawn’s other Pokémon had been watching for a while before they all walked out to the living room to finish eating and get out of the way.

                As Dawn reached for another big piece of broken plate, the broom got in her way. She looked up at Paul from where she kneeled on the ground. “You should just let me sweep them up,” he said, “You could cut your hands.”

                Dawn pouted. “Hey, I’m not that clumsy!” Paul raised an eyebrow and smiled down at her. Dawn felt her face heat up and she quickly looked back down at the floor. He was cute! When had Paul gotten cute? Just a few minutes ago he was the scariest thing Dawn had ever seen! She chanced another glance up at him as she picked up more of the silverware.

                He noticed, frowned, and essentially snapped, “What?”

                Dawn frowned with a huff. So much for cute.

                She stood and set the silverware in the sink and tossed out the pieces of plates she had gathered up. There was a knock at the door and she had started to go to answer it, but May jumped up and rushed to answer. Dawn groaned. Any excuse she could not to clean, May would take.

                Dawn was about to lift up the vacuum, but stopped when May called out, “Dawn! There’s some guy here saying he’s here for Paul!”

                Paul turned his head and Dawn straightened back up. The man who walked in had purple hair like Paul, just darker and longer. It was tied back into a low ponytail and he had a shy smile on his face. Dawn felt herself smile without even realizing it.

                “Hey Reggie,” Paul greeted dryly, turning back to keep cleaning up.

                Reggie’s smile broke into a big grin. “Paul! Thank goodness, Maylene and I were so worried about you!” He stopped, however and looked at the room. He saw the broken glass and the broken plates his brother was cleaning up. “Oh no, what happened? What’d he do?”

                Reggie directed the question to May, and the brunette was about to answer, when Dawn cut across her, saying, “ _He_ didn’t do anything. _May_ got in his face.”

                May stuck her tongue out from across the room. Dawn returned the motion. Reggie rubbed the back of his head with a laugh. “Oh boy,” he said, “See, this is why I thought it would have been better if I came and got him last night.”

                Paul paused in what he was doing and looked at Dawn. Dawn winked at Reggie, striking her signature pose, and said, “No need to worry!” May groaned at that, but she did it so loudly it seemed like she was yelling.

                “Yeah, that’s what you said when I offered the first time,” Reggie laughed, “You’re certainly one of the nicest people Paul’s ever introduced me to!”

                “I didn’t introduce you.”

                Dawn puffed up her cheeks and put her hands on her hips. “No one asked you!” Paul’s only response was a blink before he looked away again. Reggie laughed and walked toward them.

                “Man, she’s quite the match for you, eh Paul?” He had his hands on his hips and was beaming at his brother. Paul growled at him, but didn’t turn his head. “Looks like you’ve made yourself a friend!”

                Paul stood up and looked at Reggie. Dawn looked between them and frowned a little. Paul was only a couple inches shorter than Reggie. She wasn’t sure which of them was the younger one.

                “I don’t need friends,” Paul said, voice dark.

                May walked over and stood next to Dawn. They exchanged nervous glances.

                Reggie’s smile didn’t falter, though. “That’s what’s so great about friends! You can meet new ones even if you’re not trying to!” Paul rolled his eyes with a scoff. “Dawn!” Reggie was smiling down at her.

                “Yeah?” Dawn found herself smiling again. Reggie’s enthusiasm was contagious. How was Paul still so grouchy when his brother was so happy?

                “How about we all exchange phone numbers! I’m sure my fiancée would love to meet you! You too May!”

                Dawn didn’t even think twice. She pulled her baby blue Piplup phone out and plugged Reggie’s number in. Reggie turned his attention to May and so Dawn walked over to Paul, phone still in hand.

                Paul had his hands in his pockets. “What?” His face was set at its normal angry level. Dawn smiled and motioned her phone toward him. Paul looked at it, then back up at her face.

                “No.”

                Dawn puffed her cheeks again and reached forward, shoving her hand into Paul’s pocket. She ignored him yelling protests at her and yanked out his phone.

                “Give that back!” he gripped his phone while she held it and glowered down at her.

                Dawn frowned, disappointed. She expected he would just take it back, so she loosened her grip. But he was just standing there, holding onto it with her. Now she was confused. She looked at him, and then their hands and the phone. Her smaller hand was completely wrapped by Paul’s. She saw his fingers twitch before he let go and shoved his hands back into his pockets.

                He looked away with a growl. “Fine. Enter your stupid number. I’m not going to call you,” he grumbled.

                Dawn smiled brightly and typed in his password. She went to the contacts and looked at them before she did anything else.

Aaron.

Bertha.

Cynthia.

Flint.

Lucian.

Maylene.

Reggie.

                Paul’s contacts were just the Elite Four, Cynthia, his brother, and whoever Maylene was. Dawn found it really cute. Well, those seven were about to get an addition. Once she had entered her name and number she handed the phone back to the purple haired boy.

                Then she returned her own phone to her hands. “Okay, now you tell me your number!”

                Paul frowned at her. “You just had my phone. You could’ve just checked…”

                “That’s not the same!” Dawn whined, “I want _you_ to tell me!” Dawn saw Reggie smiling next to Paul, but she kept her gaze focused on the grumpy Rebolledo brother.

                He looked away, surprisingly looking embarrassed. Dawn could have sworn his cheeks had a bit of a pink hue to them. She didn’t get much time to dwell on it, though, because he was already reciting the numbers.

                “I’m still not going to call you,” Paul said, not looking at any of them.

                Dawn winked and said, “No need to worry! I’ll just call you!” She heard May and Reggie laugh and this time she was sure she saw Paul blush.

                “I’m not going to answer, then,” he grumbled.

                “I’ll call the League and tell them you broke into my house if you don’t, mister.”

                Paul snapped his head to look at her and stared at her with wide eyes.

                Reggie threw an arm around his brother’s shoulder. “What’d I tell ya, Paul? You made a friend!”


	2. So, I wanted to add some more to this....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn has some really interesting luck.

                **When texting, if there are 3 dashes before the words, it’s Dawn talking. If there’s only one, it’s whoever she is talking to.**

 

                Dawn hadn’t even been a little bit surprised when May invited Drew over that night. She knew the brunette would want to tell him all about what happened. She would probably be looking for sympathy too.

                “Oh, none of it was my fault, you believe me right Drew?” Dawn muttered as she went outside to the green space. She set out the incredibly large bowl and let Mamoswine out of his pokeball. “I’m completely innocent here and I never let my temper get the better of me…” Mamoswine was already happily munching away, completely ignoring Dawn’s rambling. Dawn huffed. “I really liked that end table, too…”

                The table top hadn’t been the only part of it to get damaged. Torterra knocking into it had dented the entire front face. So now she was going to have to completely get rid of it come garbage day. It wouldn’t even stand up on its own anymore.

                Mamoswine finished his food and shuffled over to Dawn, hoping for some attention. Dawn smiled at her giant ice pig and pulled out a little brush. “I didn’t forget! Don’t you worry!”

                She had only been out there for a little while when she heard Drew’s voice shouting. She turned her head, saw him rushing outside toward her, and tried to prepare herself.

                “You let him use my towels!?” he was huffing and waving the wet purple thing in her face, “Dawn, these ones were mine! I can’t believe you offered to let him use these! Now I have to make sure he didn’t have any parasites or something!”

                She rolled her eyes. “Drew, I told him to use the other towels. He was just a dick and used yours anyway… He ‘forgot’ apparently.” She waved her hands next to her head at the word forgot.

                “I don’t believe you,” Drew said, putting his free hand on his hip, “May said he had purple hair. You probably told him to use the purple ones so it would match.”

                Mamoswine nudged the brush still in Dawn’s hand. She went back to grooming him and said, “You can either believe me or not, Drew. If you really want a new towel I can go buy you one.” He flipped his hair and muttered something under his breath as he walked away.

                The rest of the week went pretty normally after that. Dawn attended the fashion class her boss had told her to take, May and Drew had been staying at the apartment for the past five days every night, and the end table had thankfully been picked up by the collection crew. Occasionally Drew would mention his precious purple towel, but he had already used it again, so it was pretty obvious he didn’t really care anymore.

                Dawn had woken up early Saturday morning, thanks to a certain penguin pecking incessantly at her shoulder. She went out, made up food for her team, and shuffled out to check the mail. Her big blue slippers caught on the sidewalk a couple of times, but she was still too tired to care.

                Pulling open the mailbox, Dawn grumbled at the amount of bills she pulled out. “Stupid money,” she said, flicking over them lightly. Once she was back in the apartment, she dropped the papers and envelopes onto the couch and waddled to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She had tried coffee before, but May forbade her from ever having it again.

                She sat down with a pink mug and lifted the bundle of mail. “Well, let’s see what the damage is.”

                Bill for water, bill for electric, bill for insurance, noise complaint, credit card offer, credit card offer, noise complaint, and oh look another noise complaint! Dawn read all three of the complaints and laughed. Each one was from the morning when May and Paul had that fight. Apparently one off day wasn’t allowed in this complex. Piplup waddled over to her and she showed him the complaints. “See that, Piplup? Three people complained about us being too loud! Three!”

                Piplup simply hopped up onto the couch and poked at the rest of the mail. Dawn had just taken a sip of her tea when an envelope addressed to her caught her eye. She had to wrestle it away from Piplup, but she managed to get it without crumpling it too much.

                She looked at the name and address in the top corner and blinked. It was from Paul. She hadn’t heard anything of him since the incident last week. Why was he sending her a letter?

                Once she opened it, she saw two pieces of paper inside. One was a check. She stared at it for what must have been ten minutes before she finally realized why he would be sending her a check in the mail. She looked to where her end table previously stood, the spot now empty and sad looking.

                Smiling, she showed Piplup the little paper with Paul’s signature on it. “See that, Piplup?” she asked, “Paul kept his word! Now I can buy a new table if I want!”

                “Pip, piplup…”

                Dawn flipped the check around and looked at the amount. She was going to take a drink and stopped herself. “How expensive did he think that table was?” she asked aloud, “He wrote like three times as much as I needed to cover it…” She looked at Piplup. “I can’t take that much money from him, right?”

                “Pip!” The little penguin shook his head.

                Dawn set her now cold tea down and pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts and paused at Paul’s name.

                She looked at Piplup.

                Piplup looked at her.

                “I’m nervous,” she said, smiling, “Sad, huh, Piplup?” The little penguin only tilted his head. “No need to worry,” she told herself, “I can just send him a text. It’ll be okay.”

                She thought carefully before she wrote. The last thing she wanted was to set him off.

\--- _Hey Paul, this is Dawn. I just got your letter. I really appreciate it, but um… You wrote too much for the table. I don’t feel very comfortable taking so much._

                She set her phone down, picked up her mug and gagged at the chilly liquid. “Gross.” She went and got herself something new to drink from the kitchen. As she poured a glass of juice, she distinctly heard the sound of paper flying through the air and ruffling. “Piplup, if I come out there and find all those bills all over the floor you’re gonna be in big trouble.”

                Piplup was chirping quite a bit from out on the couch. When she stepped around the corner, she laughed. All of her other Pokémon had climbed up onto the couch, scattering the papers everywhere.

                “Looks like I judged you too quick, Piplup,” she said, bending down to pick up a few of the papers. As she stood up her phone vibrated. Ambipom bounced over to look at it. “That’s probably Paul,” she said, setting the letters down.

                “What’s probably what?” Dawn turned around at the sound of May’s voice.

                Smiling, she said, “Morning, sleepy head.”

                May rubbed one of her eyes, but smiled anyway. She took the glass from Dawn’s hand, ignoring her pout, and spoke, “So, what’s up? What’s going on out here? You said something was something…”

                “Oh, right, “Dawn picked up her phone and unlocked it, “I just texted Paul. I think he just replied.”

                May downed Dawn’s drink in three quick gulps. “Why’d you text him?”

                “I got the check for the end table from him, but it’s way too much money,” Dawn said, flicking to the message from Paul.

- _Did you even read the note I put in the envelope with the check?_

                Dawn blinked at his text. She actually hadn’t looked at it.

\--- _No, I didn’t._

- _Read it._

                She was surprised by how fast he replied that time. Picking up the envelope with her name on it, she pulled out the folded paper inside.

                She read it aloud. “Here’s the money to pay for the damage Torterra and I caused. I know it’s more than you probably needed for that glass thing, but it’s for those plates, the dents in the other table, and the broken chair leg, too. So don’t call me saying you’re not going to accept it, because I’m not writing another one.”

                Dawn pouted. She shifted back to her phone and sent a text of “ _Oh…_ ”

                “So he gave us extra money?” May asked, looking at the letter, “Well, that was nice of him, at least…We could use it for rent.”

                “Good point.” Dawn returned her team to their pokeballs. “I guess I better go cash it in.”

                Drew walked around the corner from the hall where their rooms were, yawning. Dawn looked over at him and frowned. His hair was perfect. He was still in the sweatpants he wore to bed, so he had just woken up. How did he wake up with perfect hair? Not fair.

                “You gonna buy a new table too?” May asked, walking over to give her boyfriend a good morning kiss.

                “I’ll go look, probably,” Dawn replied, putting her bag over her shoulder. She tucked her phone and the envelope into it and said, “I’ll send you a pic if I find anything that looks cute.”

                “Kay!”

\--~--

                The line at the bank had been so long. By the time Dawn actually left it was after one. Since she had missed lunch, Dawn decided to get a snack at the mall and look around some of the furniture stores.

                She picked one of the little cafes that allowed Pokémon and happily called Piplup out to snack with her. “Nothing wrong with having a pastry, right Piplup?”

                “Pip piplup!” He swiped one of the creampuffs Dawn bought and popped it into his beak.

                “Such a little thief,” Dawn teased, rubbing the top of his head.

\--~--

                Dawn had been wandering around all of the furniture stores for two hours. She kept seeing things that looked cute but were either too expensive or wouldn’t look good in their apartment. She blamed May for buying so much brown stuff. “Easier to clean,” she had said.

                She stopped at a little white end table that had purposely sanded edges to make it look old and frowned. It wasn’t too bad. It would probably look okay in their apartment. She tried opening the drawer it had a couple of times, making sure it worked, and pulled out her phone to take a picture.

                She sent the photo with the label “Whaddya think?”

                And she only realized that the last person she had texted _wasn’t_ May when he replied.

_-Why did you send me this?_

                Dawn stared at her phone screen. What did May mean why did she… Oh, shit, she hadn’t sent that to May. She sent it to Paul.

                She quickly scrambled to reply to him.

_\---Oops, sorry Paul. I meant to send that to May._

_-Maybe next time actually look before you type?_

                Dawn scowled. She hadn’t even thought about it before she sent the picture. She usually only ever texted May. Well, maybe her friend Zoey every now and then, but Zoey would have been fine with her explanation.

_\---Geeze, I said I was sorry. You don’t have to be so mean._

Dawn walked away from the table and out of the store. Now she didn’t like it anymore. Too much drama around it. She texted May, made sure she was texting May, and let her know that she wasn’t really having much luck.

_-You didn’t find anything? Wow. Usually you can pick out what looks good with our stuff._

_\---Well, I found one that was pretty cute, but I decided I don’t like it anymore._

_-Oh?_

_\---It’s fine. I’ll just keep looking._

                After checking at three more stores, Dawn couldn’t find anything else that she liked even half as much. She gave up and began the trip back to the apartment.

                Apparently at some point it had started raining while she was in there. Dawn groaned when she stepped outside and saw it pouring down just beyond the building’s extended roof. “Great,” she checked her bag, but as she expected, she didn’t bring her umbrella. They hadn’t been calling for rain. “Stupid weatherman.”

                She thought about asking May or Drew or somebody to come and pick her up, but that seemed like a stupid waste of gas. So she waited. Just in case it decided to lighten up. So far it wasn’t.

                As she stood by the door of the mall, and tall woman with incredibly long blonde hair stepped out with a boxed piece of cake in her hands. Dawn knew who she was immediately. She may have been the ex-champion, but Cynthia had a look. There was no mistaking her.

                Cynthia stopped and looked at the rain, then looked over at Dawn. She smiled. “Did you forget your umbrella as well?” she asked. Dawn noticed how soft her voice was. She had only ever seen her battling on TV specials, and during the battles she was usually yelling.

                “Yeah,” Dawn replied, stepping away from the wall, “I was kinda hoping it would calm down so I wouldn’t have to call any of my friends and make them waste gas…”

                The blonde smiled again. “Why don’t I give you a ride? I may not have a very big car, but it could get both of us where we need to go.”

                “Really?” Dawn jumped forward, a big smile on her face, “You’d do that for me?”

                The ex-champ nodded. “Hold my cake, I’ll go get the car,” she said, holding the box out toward Dawn. She took it with a smile and walked out toward the edge of the protective roof. It didn’t take long before a small, sleek looking black car rolled up in front of her. Cynthia rolled down the window and called for her to get in.

                Dawn practically fell into the car. It was so low to the ground. Cynthia asked if she was okay, to which Dawn replied “No need to worry!”

                “All right, so where do you live?”

                “Ah, over in the Stonybrook apartment complex. Kinda near the Veilstone gym, it’s like right near the Veilstone Pokémon Center,” Dawn answered.

                Cynthia smiled. “Oh, I know exactly where that is! A friend of mine lives right around the corner there!”

                Now Dawn smiled. “Would that friend happen to have purple hair and be named Paul?”

                “Oh, you two know each other?” Cynthia was still beaming. Such a happy person. Dawn liked her. “Are you friends?”

                “I mean, not really?” Dawn scratched her neck, “I think of him as a friend, but he doesn’t seem to like me very much.”

                Cynthia laughed. “Sounds about how I expected,” she said, “Then we both definitely know the same Paul. How did you two meet? Was it under bad circumstances?”

                “He sort of broke into my apartment about a week ago,” Dawn had said it without even thinking.

                As soon as the words left her mouth, Cynthia broke into hysterics. She was actually crying she was laughing so hard. She pulled the car over to the side of the road. “Ho-hold on,” she wiped at one of her eyes, “What do you mean he _sort of_ broke in? You have to tell me what happened!”

                Dawn felt her cheeks heat up. She probably shouldn’t have told Cynthia anything. What if she called Paul to talk about it and he confronted Dawn? She screwed up.

                “I, um… I don’t really know the whole story,” she said, trying not to stammer, “He um, he said that he went out with the Elite Four, I think… And um, I guess he had a little too much to drink and uh…” She could see the smile on Cynthia’s face growing with each new bit of information. “Well, I don’t think he realized it wasn’t his house and he came in and um, kind of… well, kind of passed out on my couch.”

                And once again, Dawn had lost Cynthia. The ex-champion was cackling. Actually cackling.

                “Oh, goodness, of _course_ the Four got him drinking! They just never stop! They used to do the same thing with me when I was Champion!” She smacked her hand against the steering wheel. “I bet you called the cops on his drunk ass, didn’t you?”

                Dawn was sure she was pink in the face. She looked down and fiddled with the box in her hands. “U-uh… Not, not exactly.”

                “Not exactly?” Cynthia wasn’t laughing anymore, but Dawn knew she was still all smiles. “What did you do? Tie him up?”

                Dawn looked up and puffed. “No! Of course not! Nothing like that! I wouldn’t be so mean!” If she could put her hands on her hips in the small car, she would have. “I tried to talk to him and tell him he had the wrong house, but he wasn’t listening! I was going to call the police, but my Piplup walked right up to him and didn’t seem bothered by him at all!”

                “Your Piplup?” Cynthia looked intrigued. “Do tell.”

                “He was my starter! We’ve been together since I was ten! And he’s an excellent judge of character! I never go on any dates without having him meet the guy that asked me out!” She swelled with pride. Her little penguin had gotten her out of so many bad situations. She had almost dated one boy, but Piplup didn’t like him at all. And when she called things off, he sent her naked pictures for a whole month afterward begging her to get back together with him. “If Piplup had said he didn’t trust him then I would have kicked Paul out as fast as I could!”

                Cynthia was still smiling, but she had calmed down quite a bit. She was leaning back in her seat. “I would certainly love to meet this Piplup of yours,” she said, “It sounds like he’s very in-tune with human aura.”

                Dawn blinked at that. “Uh, sure, any time.”

                “Fabulous! Then how about I stop inside your apartment and meet him? In fact, why don’t I meet your whole team?” She was so eager.

                “O-okay…”

\--~--

                When Dawn pushed the door open, May looked up from the couch. “Hey! How was the-“ her greeting stopped when the tall blonde woman followed Dawn inside. Drew stood up from the couch, gaping like a Magikarp.

                Dawn smiled and shifted nervously. “Uh, hey guys, so um, this is-“

                “Cynthia!” May jumped to her feet with a shriek, “Dawn what the hell!? First you meet the current champ and now you meet the ex-Champ?! Where do you go? How do you do this!? I don’t understand!”

                May had pounced over to shake Cynthia’s hand and introduce herself. Drew followed behind slowly. He looked like he was in awe.

                “Well, hello miss May, it’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Cynthia greeted. Drew introduced himself. “And you as well, Drew. A pleasure.”

                May looked at Dawn. “Seriously, Dawn. How the fuck did this happen?”

                Dawn was bright red. She was so embarrassed. Thankfully, Cynthia answered for her, “Oh, that’s an easy one! I had wanted to buy myself something sweet for later, and when I left I found Dawn trying to wait out the rain. It seemed only natural to offer her a ride home.”

                “Dawn, for once I am so happy you didn’t call me for help like you’re supposed to,” May said. Dawn stuck her tongue out at her. May ignored it, and instead beamed up at the taller, older woman.

                Cynthia turned her attention to Dawn. “So, where is this excellent judge of yours?”

                “Oh, right,” Dawn shuffled through her bag for a moment. “Here he is,” she pulled out his ball and let her bag drop to the floor while she called him out.

                Piplup rubbed his little flippers over his eyes and then looked up at his trainer. “Pip?”

                Cynthia squatted down next to him. Piplup turned his head and stared at her.

                And they just... stared. Neither of them moved, neither of them blinked, neither of them made any sort of noise. They just stared at each other.

                Dawn looked at May and Drew, but they both looked as confused as she did.

                Finally Cynthia closed her eyes and smiled, placing her hand on top of Piplup’s head.

                “What a wonderful partner to have,” she said, “So brave.” She looked up at Dawn. “You’ve got a wonderful friend in Piplup. He will no doubt stand by your side should the world end today.”

                “…Is the world going to end today?” Dawn asked, not sure how to take Cynthia’s compliment.

                Cynthia stood up and smiled. “Oh, no, don’t fret,” she said, “I was just thinking of something.”

                “What was it?” May asked, shifting her weight around on her toes and the balls of her feet.

                “When every life meets another life, something will be born,” she said, “Dawn, I think when you and Piplup met a truly strong bond was born. I see nothing but trust and respect for you in him.”

                The three young adults looked at each other, each puzzled.

                “Um,” Dawn looked back at Cynthia, “I’m not sure I understand, but thank you. It means a lot to hear that you feel Piplup is a good Pokémon.”

                The ex-Champion smiled, patted Dawn’s shoulder, and left. “Perhaps our paths will cross again, Dawn!”

                The door clicked shut behind her and Dawn looked at May and Drew.

                “Dawn,” Drew said, “I cannot believe you ran into Cynthia.”

                “Me either,” Dawn confessed.

                The green haired boy looked at her. “Do you realize how lucky you are?” Dawn looked at him before bending to pick Piplup up. “Since she lost her title, Cynthia’s been doing nothing but train in a secret location. This must be the first time she’s left in months and you just happened to run into her? That’s terrifying luck and I wish I had it.”

                May and Dawn both laughed. “I wish I had it too,” May said.

                Dawn shook her head, “I wish this luck would follow me to work. I just need my boss to like one of my dresses! I don’t need to meet any more champions or ex -champions! I need money!” Drew sighed and shook his head at her.

\--~--

                Dawn heard her phone going off next to her head. She groaned as she rolled over in bed. She looked at her little Starly clock. “Who’s texting me at three in the morning?” she whined, reaching for her phone, “I swear if Conway is sending me another dick-pic I’m blocking him.”

                She heard Piplup chirping at her from down by her feet, but she ignored him. She tapped her phone and flinched as the light temporarily rendered her blind.

                Once she finally could register what was in front of her, Dawn unlocked her phone. She hit her message notification.

_-What the fuck did you say to Cynthia?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really wanted to add some more to this story. I kept thinking about it...... So... there ya go...  
> Please, though. If I missed spelling mistakes, help me. I went through twice and I'm sure I missed stuff.


	3. Listen, they love each other very much

                Dawn squinted at her phone. What she said to Cynthia? Paul? What?

                She didn’t even get to think about replying before he was calling her. She almost dropped her phone, the loud ringtone startled her so much.

                She hit the button to answer and then actually did drop her phone. “Shit! Ah, where’d that go?” She hung over the edge of her bed, feeling around for her phone, which had landed face-down. Piplup was squawking angrily at her now, but she ignored him. She could faintly hear Paul asking if she was there. Finally she felt the edge of her phone. “Aha! There it is!”

                Dawn yanked it up and put it next to her ear. “Sorry, I dropped my phone.”

                _“What the fuck did you say to Cynthia?”_ was the very first thing Paul said.

                She huffed. “You know, it’s three in the morning. You could have waited until a decent hour before you called me.”

                Paul didn’t even respond to that. He just repeated his question, only more forcefully. Dawn rolled her eyes and got out of bed, walking out to the living room.

                “I didn’t say anything bad, geeze, calm down,” she said, plopping down on the couch, “All I said was that I knew you.”

                _“Don’t fucking lie to me,”_ Paul bit on the other end of the line, _“She knew about me breaking into your apartment. What the fuck did you tell her?”_

Dawn propped her feet up on the arm of the couch. “She wanted to know how I knew you,” she said, “I’m sorry. As soon as I said it I felt bad.”

                She saw Piplup waddling out toward her with the blanket from her bed and smiled. Her smile fell fast, though, when Paul spoke again. _“Yeah, well thanks to you and your fucking mouth, she’s called me twice about this and has probably told the Elite Four already.”_

                Piplup climbed up with her and Dawn pulled him to her chest, taking the blanket with him. She yawned a little. “Look, I’m sorry, I already felt like an ass when I told her… I guess if you want me to talk to her again I could try… Though she left without giving me any way to contact her.”

                _“Please don’t talk to her, you’ve done enough damage,”_ Paul said. He didn’t sound happy. Dawn wasn’t happy either, especially with him insulting her so much. “ _Just stop getting involved.”_

                Dawn yawned again. “Not my fault it was raining and she offered me a ride…” She had barely muttered that, but she had a feeling Paul heard her, judging from the sigh on the other end of the line. And another yawn from the blue haired beauty. “Look, I am sorry, but I’m tired. If you want to keep yelling at me can we do it later?”

                _“I never said I wanted to keep talking to you,”_ Paul said.

                Dawn smiled. “Well you haven’t hung up yet, so that must mean something, right?”

                Paul groaned. _“Ugh, you sound like Cynthia. Look, just don’t talk to anyone from the Elite Four. If any of them contact you or you roommate or your boyfriend or anyone, just don’t fucking tell them anything.”_

                Dawn’s eyes felt heavy. She yawned again. “Told you, Drew’s not my b’friend…” A pause for another yawn, “I’ll keep that in mind. ‘Night, Paul.” She fell asleep before she got to hang up. Her phone ended up falling to the floor.

\--~--

                Dawn woke up to May shaking her lightly. “Huh?” She blinked several times and rubbed the sand away from her eyes. “May?”

                May smiled down at her. “What are you doing sleeping out here on the couch?” Dawn sat up, catching Piplup as he slid down into her lap. “Did you and Piplup decide to watch a movie or something?”

                Dawn giggled. “May, if we were watching a movie, the TV would still be on. You know I fall asleep halfway through if I’m tired.”

                May took Piplup from her and spun around with him a couple of times. “That’s true, I guess. So then why were you out here?”

                “I was on the phone,” Dawn said. She looked around on the couch for her phone and frowned when it wasn’t there. She spotted it off on the floor and got up to pick it up.

                “With who? When did you come out here?” May had stopped spinning the little penguin.

                Dawn brushed her phone free of dust and carpet lint. “Huh? Oh, it was Paul. And I think it was like around 4am by the time he was done lecturing me.”

                May inched closer to Dawn, a big grin on her face. Dawn’s face fell into a scowl. “I already know what you’re thinking May, and no, it wasn’t anything like that.”

                “Anything like what?” May asked, trying to act innocent. She even batted her eyelashes when Dawn turned her scowl toward her.

                “He literally called me at three AM to tell me off for being a blabbermouth,” Dawn said, not answering her friend’s teasing question.

                May’s face fell and she puffed air up at her bangs. “Well that’s not very romantic,” she said, “Do I need to chew him out?”

                Piplup had crawled back onto the couch and wrapped himself in the blanket again. Dawn smiled at patted his head a couple of times. Dawn looked at May after her question and frowned again.

                “I wouldn’t suggest it,” she said, “He wasn’t too happy with any of us last night…”

                May huffed again. Dawn was walking toward the kitchen, so she followed her. “What an ass. Did he have anything else to say?”

                Dawn paused as she set the kettle on the stove. “Yeah, actually. Apparently we’re not supposed to talk to the Elite Four if they try to contact us. Like, _any_ of us. He even included Drew in that bit.”

                “Seriously?” May was leaning against the counter. “Why would the Elite Four try and get in touch with us?” May paused for a moment. “He mentioned Drew? But he hasn’t even met him yet.”

                Dawn joined her in the leaning. “He mentioned Drew, but he didn’t seem to listen to me the first time I told him, cuz he thought Drew was my boyfriend _again_.” The kettle was starting to squeal. Dawn went and got herself a mug and came back to May’s side. May was snickering about the Drew boyfriend thing. “Oh, and he never said why they would try and get in touch… I was too tired to ask.”

                The two of them walked back out to the living room, Dawn now happily sipping on her tea. May stared off toward the bedrooms.

                “You and Drew would make a very good looking couple,” May said, “But I’m pretty sure you would try to kill each other at least twice a day.”

                Dawn laughed. “What, like you two _don’t_ try to kill each other?” May went pink and pouted at Dawn. Dawn smirked at her, raising one eyebrow and waiting eagerly.

                “We don’t fight that much anymore! We’ve gotten a lot better!”

                “I know, I was just teasing, silly,” Dawn hummed and sipped again, “You two are all cute and cuddly now more than anything.” Dawn looked at Piplup. “To be honest, sometimes I’m really jealous of you two.” May looked at her. She had just been about to turn on the TV, but that comment stopped her.

                May put a hand on her shoulder. “Why would you be jealous? You’ve got boys practically clawing at the door to date you.”

                “That’s not what I’m jealous of,” Dawn said, puffing up her cheeks, “I’m jealous that you both have someone who cares so much about the other. You know?” May looked confused. “Like, I’m jealous that you can tell Drew one bad thing about your day, even if it’s something tiny and not really a big deal, and he cares enough to know when it’s actually upsetting to you. And I’m jealous that if you don’t feel safe you can call him. If I don’t feel safe I’m supposed to call on Mamoswine… That’s much less romantic, don’t you think?”

                The brunette smiled. “Well, it could be romantic if you’re into that sort of thing.” She winked at the horrified look on Dawn’s face.

                “Eeewwww! May that’s fucking _gross_!” Dawn shoved her off the couch. But they both laughed and snorted at the joke anyway.

\--~--

                Drew woke up about an hour after May had and he joined the two of them in their lounging and joking. He had been just as curious as May had been when Dawn told him about Paul’s warning.

                He had been about to ask a question when Dawn told him about how Paul kept thinking he was her boyfriend. At that he frowned. “Honestly, that’s gross,” he said, “You’re like an annoying little sister to me.”

                “Hey!”

                Drew smiled and pulled May close to him. “Besides,” he squeezed her shoulders, “I already have the most beautiful girlfriend.” May gushed and cooed at him before kissing him.

                Dawn scowled. All three of them had some of their Pokemon wandering around the apartment. Drew’s Roserade had been relaxing by the front door, so when they heard a knocking sound over there, they all first thought it was the grass type. But Roserade was over near the coat rack. Way too far away from the door to have made the noise.

                “Oh, then that’s actually someone at the door!” Dawn quickly hopped up and pulled it open. “Hello?”

                She was startled seeing a man with a big red afro at the door. He grinned down at her, though, and said a very boisterous and happy, “Hiya!”

                Dawn knew who he was immediately. Flint, one of the Elite Four. How he managed to get to her apartment without being swarmed by fans, she had no idea. But here he was. Now she was really curious about what Paul had been saying over the phone. She was suspicious already.

                “Um… Can I help you?” Dawn finally asked, after just kind of standing there awkwardly.

                He only smiled wider. “Ah, right, sorry! Name’s Flint! You’ve probably heard of me!” He pointed at himself with his thumb. “You wouldn’t happen to be Dawn, would you?”

                Dawn looked at May and Drew. May offered a very exaggerated shrug. “Uh, yeah, I am. And, yeah, I do know who you are… How do you know who I am?”

                “Well, actually, a friend of mine was telling me about you!” Flint was so excited. He seemed full of energy. “You recently met a young man named Paul, right?”

                Dawn wasn’t sure what to think of this. “What if I have?” she asked, putting her guard up. Piplup was waddling over toward her. “What’s he got to do with how you know who I am?”

                Flint was still nothing but smiles. “Don’t tell me Paul didn’t tell you!”

                Piplup was now looking up at the fire type specialist. Dawn looked down at him.

                “Didn’t tell me what? That’s he’s the current Sinnoh League Champion?”

                “Hey! There ya go! I knew he had to have told ya!” Flint clapped his hands together.

                Dawn folded her arms across her chest. “He didn’t tell me,” she said. Flint stopped his claps and looked at her, his overly expressive face looking perplexed. Dawn jerked her thumb toward where May sat on the couch. “He told _her_ that he was the champion.”

                Flint looked over at May, who was trying very hard to shrink into the couch. “Wha?” Flint looked at her with a hard squint, then back at Dawn, “But Cynth said Dawn had blue hair…. I don’t understand. Are you not Dawn?”

                “I am Dawn, but Paul didn’t tell me jack,” Dawn said, “And what do you mean ‘Cynth said’?”

                “Ahhaha…” Flint rubbed the back of his neck, laughing nervously, “Well, uh, Cynthia said she talked to you and stuff…” Dawn’s gaze was turning steely.

                “Stuff?”

                Flint looked at her face, looking startled for a second, before he grinned and grabbed one of her hands. The motion startled Dawn so much that she nearly fell over. May jumped up, leaning over the back of the couch. Dawn squeaked with surprise.

                “Aw, man! Cynth really _was_ holding out on me! I knew it! I gotta congratulate the little brat once I see him again!” Flint was shaking her hand rapidly as he spoke.

                Dawn was trying to wrench her hand free, but she asked anyway. “Congratulate who? For what?”

                “Why, Paul of course!” Flint said, as if it was obvious, “I knew he had it in him! And what a catch! I just knew he’d pick a girl with just as much of an edge as him!”

                Dawn actually did fall over at that. She completely collapsed. Flint holding her one arm up didn’t stop her from dropping to the ground. Now she knew why Paul wanted her to avoid the Elite Four. Cynthia had made it sound like they were dating.

                “Hey, you okay?” Flint asked, looking down at her.

                Dawn looked up at him, she felt like she was sweating. “Flint, I hate to break it to ya, but Paul and I aren’t a couple.”

                “Huh?”

                “We’re. Not. Dating,” Dawn spoke out very slowly, “I don’t know what Cynthia told you, but Paul and I literally have met one time. That’s it.”

                Flint visibly deflated. “Really?” He sounded so disappointed when he asked.

                May piped up from the couch. “Did Cynthia tell you they were?”

                Flint looked over at her and straightened back up. “Well, no, not exactly. She had just said Paul met a really interesting young lady.” Flint looked at Dawn and winked, grinning wide, “She told me about our celebration night and how he broke in and you took care of him.”

                Dawn dropped her head to the carpet. “Took care of him…?” She honestly felt like her soul could leave her body in that exact moment.

                “Well, I mean, you didn’t call the cops,” May said, “I guess that counts as taking care of him… Oh! And you made him breakfast!”

                “And you let him use _my_ towels for his shower,” Drew added.

                Dawn turned her head toward them slowly. “You two aren’t helping!”

                Flint laughed. “Aw, you really made him breakfast? That’s cute.”

                “I was just trying to be nice,” Dawn whined, “Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy………????”

                May got up and lifted Dawn up off the floor. “Don’t be such a drama queen,” she said.

                “This coming from the princess of Hoenn,” Dawn grumbled.

                Piplup at some point had ended up sitting on Flint’s foot. He didn’t seem to mind, but it was an odd thing for him to do.

                Flint sighed. “Well, guess I owe you an apology, then,” he said, “I was so sure… Especially since Reggie said he gave you his number…”

                Dawn meekly bent and picked up Piplup. “Well, if you heard the story from Cynthia then you know what happened,” Dawn said, “Reggie had us all exchange numbers. Reggie liked us a heck of a lot more than Paul seemed to.”

                Flint seemed really disappointed hearing that.

                “Wait, Dawn, Paul never gave me his number,” May said. Dawn wanted to hit her. She saw Flint perk back up at that.

                “May, I stole his phone. You were there, remember?”

                May pouted. “Well, yeah, I remember you grabbing his phone and him almost taking it back from you. But didn’t he stop and let you put your number in anyway?”

                Dawn was really tempted to hit her now. Flint didn’t need any more ammo.

                “Yeah, but he complained the whole time and said he wasn’t going to call me.”

                “But he did call you!” May looked excited as she said that, “He called you last night! Ooh, Dawn!” She grabbed Dawn’s shoulder and started shaking it, “What if he likes you!?” Flint seemed just as excited as May. He was leaning forward and he had his hands together like he had just been clapping. Dawn wanted to die.

                “Well if he likes me, he has a really shitty way of showing it,” Dawn grumbled.

                Flint jumped up. “I’m definitely asking him about this! He’s gotta talk to me! We work together after all!” And before Dawn or May or Drew could say anything else, he ran off.

                Dawn stared after him. “Paul’s going to rip me to shreds,” she whispered. May looked at her, confused. Dawn didn’t say anything else, she just carried Piplup over to the armchair and sat herself down. Her stare was wide-eyed and full of fear.

                “Dawn?”

                “Please bury me in a pink dress,” Dawn mumbled, still staring off at nothing.

                May frowned. “Dawn, don’t joke like that. Paul’s not going to kill you,” she said, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder. “And if he tries, Drew and I can take him!”

                Drew grumbled from the couch, “Can we? He’s the Sinnoh champion, I don’t think either of us have Pokemon at high enough levels to beat his team.”

                May snapped her head back at him and snarled, “You’re not helping Drew!”

                Dawn continued to sit and stare blankly into the void. She could hear her phone going off next to her, but she ignored it. May picked it up and answered for her.

                “Hello?” Dawn’s eyes slowly moved to look at her friend. “I’m sorry, Dawn’s not able to talk right now, may I take a message?” May pouted. “She _can’t_ come to the phone, if you were listening.”

                After a lot of huffing and puffing, May clicked the phone’s end call button and looked at Dawn.

                “Paul’s coming over,” was all she said.

                Dawn’s eyes moved back to stare blankly in front of her. “I’ll start preparing my will now.”

\--~--

                May had made Dawn stand up when the knock on the door came. When she had asked why it needed to be her to answer, May replied, “You’re the one he wants to scream at! I’m certainly not putting myself in the line of fire until I need to!”

                So Dawn dragged herself over to the door. She pulled it open with a pained grimace on her face. She hadn’t been looking up when she opened it. But when she didn’t hear him say anything, she knew she had to stop staring at his shoes.

                She looked up at his face. He looked mad, no surprise. “Hey…”

                “Can we talk?” he asked. Dawn nodded and moved to let him in, but he didn’t budge.

                “Alone?”

                “Oh,” Dawn swallowed, “Yeah, sure we can talk outside I guess…” She looked over her shoulder and gave May a pleading look as she followed him out the door. She closed the door behind her and tried to avoid looking at the angry purple haired man.

                Dawn stayed silent. “Look,” Paul said with a bit of a huff, “I already know what Flint said to you. He came to my house ranting and raving about it all.”

                “Are you mad at me?” Dawn asked, looking at him. He turned his head to stare at her. She didn’t see any change in his expression. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell him anything that would give him the wrong idea. May and Drew kept making things worse and he came here already thinking things and I know you said not to talk to the Elite Four if they came around, but he just kept asking and I didn’t want to be rude an-!”

                Paul put a hand up, cutting her off. Dawn swallowed, feeling like there was a horrible lump in her throat. She was expecting the same rage as she heard during their phone call.

                “You talk too much,” Paul said. Dawn frowned, but didn’t say anything. “It’s not your fault, anyway. Flint’s got too much energy for his own good. Once he gets an idea in his head it sticks.”

                “So he’s going to think we’re dating anyway?” she asked. Paul only nodded in response. She groaned. “But I told him we weren’t! I told him like five times! Why doesn’t anybody ever listen to me?!”

                Paul made a quiet noise that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a ‘hmph’. Dawn wasn’t sure which, but she looked at him anyway. “People probably don’t listen because you never stop talking.  They tune you out.”

                Dawn put her fists on her hips and scowled at him. “You know what mister?” she rounded on him, “If you hadn’t just proved that you’re actually listening to me I would be really angry at you right now!” Paul clicked his tongue and looked away.

                “Yeah, whatever,” he said, “Look, if any of the other Elite Four members come see you, just make up some bullshit story. If they’re confused it makes things easier for me.”

                Dawn saw May watching them from the window, not being even a little bit subtle, and she couldn’t help but smile. She looked back at Paul. “Why did Cynthia think we were dating in the first place, anyway? I don’t remember saying anything to make her think that…” She put one of her fingers against her chin as she thought back on their conversation.

                Paul sighed. “Cynthia gets like this,” he said, looking up at the sky, “She has this stupid saying she always recites.”

                “Yeah, she said it to me.” Dawn moved a little closer to him.

                “For some reason Cynthia thinks every time any two people meet it means something special will be born,” Paul looked at her, face flat and a bored look in his eyes, “She likes to try and judge what that _something_ is.”

                Dawn blinked a couple of times as she processed that. “So… she judged that what was born between us… was… a relationship? I’m so confused, what does that saying even mean again?”

                “Fate or something stupid like that,” Paul said, “I’m guessing she blabbed about her theory to the Four and they latched onto it.”

                “Well Flint did sound really happy for you,” Dawn commented. Paul gave her a look and she rubbed the back of her head nervously.

                “What?”

                “Well, I uh… I mean. He just. He sounded like he was happy you found someone,” Dawn said, “He kinda sounded like my mom when she thought I had started dating my friend Barry.”

                Paul frowned. “How many guys do you _know_?” He sounded like he was making fun of her.

                Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous because I have so many friends!” He smiled a little at that. “And for your information, I know like seventeen guys! That’s not that many!”

                “It’s not that many for a floozy, sure.” Dawn could see him smirking and Dawn scowled at him.

                “You know, not _all_ of the guys I know are interested in dating me!”

                “No? How many aren’t then?’ Paul asked. He was still grinning and Dawn honestly wished he’d stop. She liked it better when he looked bored.

                “A lot of them!” she retorted. Paul rolled his eyes. “I can name one right now!” Paul raised an eyebrow at her. “You!”

                Paul’s face fell back to its frown. “We’re not friends.”

                “You didn’t ask how many friends weren’t romantically interested in me!” Dawn shouted with a wicked grin. She had the upper hand now. “You just asked how many guys I knew weren’t! And unfortunately for you, mister, we know each other!”

                “Who are you again?”

                Dawn smacked his arm for that. “Don’t be rude!” And Dawn was startled when he actually laughed after she did. She looked around confused.

                “Is the world ending? Am I dying? Did I actually just hear you laugh?”

                Paul rolled his eyes again. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He was still smiling. And it was one of the nice smiles that Dawn had thought was cute! It wasn’t one of those terrifying evil looking smirks!

                She beamed at him. “You know, you should smile more! Smiles suit you!”

                His face was back to its normal state in an instant. “Nah, cute and bubbly doesn’t work at all for me,” he said. “That’s more my brother’s thing.”

                “Yeah,” Dawn agreed, “Reggie’s so nice. What the hell happened? Did he inherit all the happy genes and you got stuck with the grouchy ones?”

                Paul shrugged. “Something like that, I’m sure.”

                Dawn looked at May again. She was still watching them with wide and curious eyes. Paul looked over at her too. “What is she doing?” He asked.

                “I may have told her that you were going to kill me,” Dawn said, smiling at her brown haired friend.

                “Why would you think that?” Paul asked, “If I killed someone I would have to resign from my title.”

                Dawn made a face at him. “You’d also be in jail, dumby.” Paul shrugged at that. “And when you called me at three in the fucking morning to yell at me I was pretty sure you were gonna be pissed when I accidentally spilled the beans to Flint.”

                “I’m more angry at him and Cynthia than you.”

                Dawn put her hand against her heart and fluttered her eyelashes. “Aw, I’m touched! You don’t hate me as much as I thought you did!”

                Paul clicked his tongue and frowned at her. “I never said I hated you.”

                “You don’t say a lot of things,” Dawn retorted.

                “Usually don’t need to…”

                “Well with me, you need to,” Dawn said, “If you’re trying to say something you gotta make it explicitly clear!

                “Are you calling yourself dense?”

                She scowled at him. “No, I’m just saying that if you’re trying to say something to me, I’d prefer you just say it outright so I don’t have to try and understand some hidden meaning or something.”

                Paul looked back at May, who now had Drew next to her. The two of them stayed silent for a while before Paul spoke.

                “All right, well in that case…” Dawn turned her head to look at him. “I think you’re nice to look at, but you’re really irritating sometimes.” He saw Dawn puffing up, getting ready to yell, so he kept going. “But that’s not really a bad thing. My brother irritates me and I still like talking to him…” Now Dawn deflated and gave him a confused look. Paul groaned.

                “I’m asking if we can be friends, geeze, you really are dense!”

                Dawn blinked at him. She quickly smiled. “I thought you said we weren’t friends!”

                “That’s why I’m asking if we can be, idiot.”

                She hopped over to him and put an arm around his shoulder. He flinched and glowered at her as she gave him a hug.

                “Of course we can be friends! But now that I know you think I’m pretty, I’m not going to tell the Elite Four that we aren’t dating!”

                Paul tried to wriggle away from her. “I take it back, I don’t want to talk to you ever again.”

                Dawn only squeezed him tighter. “Too late! From this moment forward you’re my un-official boyfriend and I’m never letting you back out of it!” Paul groaned and continued trying to pry himself free of her death grip. “You shouldn’t have said you thought I was pretty, mister!”

                “Somebody kill me,” he moaned, “Anybody. Please. I’m begging you.”

                She squeezed again. “Hey, it’s okay! I think you’re nice to look at too!” He scowled at her. So she hopped up and pecked his cheek with a tiny kiss.

                Dawn could hear May squealing from through the window. Paul looked like he wanted to die.

                “So, when’s our first date going to be?”

                “I hate you so much.”

                “Love you too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-wrote the ending like five times and I'm still not super happy with it, but it was a hell of a lot better than what I started with. Tis has been me crying over my ten year old ship. I hope those of you who read it enjoyed. Let me know if there's bad spelling errors. I found a lot of them this time.

**Author's Note:**

> if you noticed spelling problems, please tell me. I don't catch everything.


End file.
